Samsung Galaxy S3 General Information and Troubleshooting FAQTips

Hide tags are now fixed! You should now see the guide as it was written!

Hi guys and gals!

I am building a FAQ-style thread to reference the more common questions revolving around our new device, in an effort to cut down on repeat questions. If you wish to contribute, by all means, please do! I ask that we keep the replies in this thread relevant. As much as I would appreciate people posting how useful this is, I would like to keep the clutter to a minimum. The format will be: 1) The question 2) the answer and 3) the source thread (if applicable).

Let's begin!

This is a forum-member generated FAQ to help people solve issues with their phones. The most commonly asked questions are highlighted in RED.

1) See if your issue is covered in this FAQ. A plethora of topics are covered here and will be covered in the future as issues arise. Your contribution is also welcomed.

2) Toggle off then toggle on the feature that is not working. If it is an app, exit out of it and reload it. You may have to clear data on it to get it to work. To do this, open the app tray and then go to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications. You may have to switch tabs to find the application you're looking for. Then push Clear Data. Then try the app again.

3) Try pulling the battery out of the unit for at least 30 seconds, but 60+ seconds is recommended.

Connect a USB cable to your old phone and transfer files from it using the USB Mass Storage Mode, which is standard on most Android devices and may exist on other platforms. You will have to download the files you wish to transfer to your harddrive. I would recommend a new folder. You can copy all the files, but you don't have to. When all the files are transferred over, you can remove the USB cable and attach the cable to your Galaxy S3 and transfer your files back over.

Using Bluetooth: Most phones have a Bluetooth connectivity option. To do this, you have to find the Bluetooth connectivity option. Where the setting is will vary depending. I am using a Samsung Reality (SCH-u820) for this walkthrough. There should be some sort of menu or settings option that will list Bluetooth. Now, make sure Bluetooth is on and make the device Discoverable. Now to go your Galaxy S3 and open the app tray and then go to Settings > Wireless & networks > Bluetooth settings. Check on Bluetooth and then "Scan for devices". You may have to put your old phone back into discover mode, because discover mode times out for security and battery purposes. Your two devices should appear and you have to follow the prompts to pair them. This may include entering in a code. Now you can select your Galaxy S3 on your old phone and send files, contacts, and whatever else you need to send.

1.01a) Need to transfer your contacts and calendar information?

Coming from another Android device? Just log in with your Google account and all of your contacts should sync automatically during the setup, according to the check boxes you select when setting up your device.

Coming from a device that is not an Android?

Welcome to Android!

First try to transfer your contacts using the Transfer app that is on the Galaxy S3. If your device isn't supported:

Most phones have a Bluetooth connectivity option. To do this, you have to find the Bluetooth connectivity option. Where the setting is will vary depending. I am using a Samsung Reality (SCH-u820) for this walkthrough. There should be some sort of menu or settings option that will list Bluetooth. Now, make sure Bluetooth is on and make the device Discoverable. Now to go your Galaxy S3 and go to Menu (button) > Settings > Wireless & networks > Bluetooth settings. Check on Bluetooth and then "Scan for devices". You may have to put your old phone back into discover mode, because discover mode times out for security and battery purposes. Your two devices should appear and you have to follow the prompts to pair them. This may include entering in a code. Now you can select your Galaxy S3 on your old phone and send files, contacts, and whatever else you need to send.

The second option is to transfer contacts via microSD card. Most phones have a microSD card. You can export your contacts to the SD card. Now, turn off both devices. Take the SD card out of your Galaxy S3 and put it to the side. The SD card is in the battery compartment and you have to remove the battery before you can remove the SD card. Put the SD card from your old phone in the SD card slot and boot the phone. Now you need a file browser to view files on your SD card. I recommend ES File Explorer. Find your contacts (probably at the bottom of the list) and open them. The phone will save your contacts. Now, turn off your phone and swap the SD cards back and reboot your phone. I recommmend you sync your phone with Backup Assistant.

1.02) I have another Android device with Google Authenticator, how do I move it?

You have to configure it to work with your new device. Go to your 2 step authorization settings in Gmail, remove your old device and add your new one. It only takes a few minutes.

Section 2 - General Galaxy S3 issues:

2.00) What is the difference between the International version and the North America version?

The International has a Quad-Core Exynos processor clocked at 1.4 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, and no LTE capabilities. It is a GSM phone.

The North American version has a Dual-Core Krait (S4 Snapdragon) processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, and LTE capabilities. Both GSM and CDMA versions exist.

2.01) What are some battery saving tips?

There are a number of battery saving options for the Galaxy S3.

There is a power saving mode in Settings. It lists a number of options to change the way your Galaxy S3 operates in order to reduce power consumption. Like remove haptic feedback and change color configurations so that the display uses less power. Brightness and Color in the Display option also has multiple power saving modes.

First take a look at Settings > Accessibility > TalkBack to make sure it's set the way you want it.

If you want to simply disable it and the first option was unsuccessful, you could try to disable Google's TTS (Text to Speech) feature. You will find this by going to Settings > Apps > All > Google TTS Engine.

If that does not improve your experience, or you want another alternative to look for, then check other features in the Accessibility section. Some have noted that LiteFlow (an LED control app) has interfered with proper TalkBack operation. Others have noted it is an Ice Cream Sandwich bug.

The Eye icon will only appear in the notification bar for a second when the phone's time out would have normally started to dim the display. So, if you set the screen to time out for a minute, after a minute of inactivity, SmartStay will check to see if you're looking at it and will keep your display active if it detects you are. The eye icon will not be on all the time.

If it's not working for you properly, here are some things to consider:

SmartStay should be off by default. If you want to enable it, please go to Settings and enable it (Specifically how is coming soon)

It's because the Galaxy S3 utilizes a larger internal memory than typical smartphones to install apps. Installing apps to SD card should be a thing of the past now, at least it will be with our Galaxy S3s as it is unnecessary.

Ok, I hope this will help those of you with anxiety of getting a 16 GB and thinking it will be too small. I have a 32 GB tablet. I have 235 apps downloaded and installed on it. Here's the proof:

So, if I moved my NANDroid backups to a SD card, I would have 16 GB free. So, we can deduce that if I have over 16 GB free on a 32 GB device, I could then fit all of my 235 apps onto a 16 GB device, assuming similar amounts of space are given to /system and other partitions. Even if it doesn't exactly fit all of them, you could still get over 200 apps and have some of them be Gameloft games. As per my picture, I was using less than 2.5 GB for apps.

Oh, and for those of you who don't know: /data is where your apps are kept. /system/apps is where the system apps are kept, so the 235 tally does not include apps that I did not download. NANDroids are backup of entire system and data files of a device. Rooters use these to back up their system so they can modify things and not worry about screwing something up, so those can be moved to the SD card without any impact.

Something that Android Forums user Covart suggested is that cordless phones also use the 5 GHz range and may be conflicting. Try disconnecting/powering them off to see if that causes a conflict. If it does, then you should change the channel again, to avoid the phone's interference.

2.10) My Galaxy S3 WiFi drops out or runs slow

AF User AeroSign found a post over on XDA that shows how to disable Wifi Power Save mode, and found it to be the problem:

Basically what user 'Muskstick' suggests is going into service mode (*#0011#), hit menu button, select wifi and disable the power save mode

It's a sharing service that you can wirelessly transfer pictures and other files between your phone and any computer (and some TVs) that are AllShare enabled. For more information, check out the official Samsung page

2.12) I keep getting random notifications!

It's because you have a free app that uses AirPush (or similar) ads. These ads appear in your notification bar, regardless if the app is being used or not. You can detect them with an ad detector and remove the app responsible. You can use this app to detect and remove: Addons Detector

This is a form of advertising that uses the notification bar to display ads instead of being in the application itself. To remove it, use Addons Detector to detect what app is giving you the ads and remove it.

2.16) Bluetooth in my car doesn't work when I have a line out plugged in!

You cannot use the headphone jack and bluetooth audio simultaneously on some variants of the Galaxy S3. You can get a USB audio out connector that will use the USB Audio pinouts to do this, though. A car dock like the Infuse 4G will fit the Galaxy S3 and has USB audio out.

2.17) There seems to be some lag when I push the home key or change homescreens!

I recently got a PM from acjohnson55 saying how to fix this:

Some people have noticed that the S3 can seem laggy, especially when switching apps. This has two main causes: S Voice home button activation and window transitions. When you tap the home button, by default, the phone waits for a possible second tap, which would activate S Voice. If you don't use this feature, turn it off by doing the following:

Some countries and carriers started providing a stability update and cellphone radio patch to the GS3. This isn't active in all countries as of June 12th, so please be patient as the roll out goes to all international carriers and devices.

At this time I do not have any solid information on it, but it does not look like the International Galaxy S3 supports the 1700 MHz band to give you proper 3G support. I recommend getting the T-Mobile USA branded Galaxy S3.

[AT&T]

1) Is the international version compatible with AT&T?

Yes, so long as you do not expect to get LTE. If you want LTE service, you must purchase the AT&T branded Galaxy S3.

Generally speaking, only you can determine what is the best for you. However, the recommended process for chosing a MicroSD card is this:

Determine the size you want: How much media do you want to carry with you? I would recommend at least a 16 GB MicroSD card. If you have a 16 GB Galaxy S3, I would recommend going with a 32 GB MicroSD card. A 64 GB MicroSD card is iff you intend to have a lot of music, movies, or other media with you on your phone.

Determine the speed you want: This is the tricky part. There are 5 classes. Class 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. Class 2 is the slowest and would probably be enough if all you want to do is back up data from your internal memory to a MicroSD card. Class 4 is the typical speed you see MicroSD cards come in. It is the usual choice for most people as it's cheap but has a decent transfer speed. Class 6 is probably the best tradeoff of price and speed. Class 10 is for those who transfer large files constantly (like movies). There is also SDXC available for the Galaxy S3. This is for those who must have the top end and are willing to pay for it. The upside is that these MicroSD cards are just as fast as internal memory. The downside is that they're much more expensive than a class 10. But price point is to be determined by the buyer.

UHS-1 microSD cards: These are the fastest available. Faster than class 10, even. Unless you're going to be constantly transferring very large files or a large number of files, you will not likely need one. There is some debate if these cards even can reach their full potential in the Galaxy S3, but it is claimed by Samsung that it does. For more info, see this thread: http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/565033-class-10-vs-uhs-1-cards.html

Things to look out for: It is highly recommended that you do not buy MicroSD cards from eBay or Craigslist. These cards are often found to be counterfeit devices that either: 1) Do not actually have the advertised capacity, 2) Do not have the advertised transfer speed, 3) Stop functioning after a week or two, 4) All of the above.

I generally do not like to promote blogs/sites. However, NZtechfreak did a wonderful job commenting on the various connection capabilities of the Galaxy S3, so I figured he gets a one time exception, also you do not have to go to his site to see the video, which is posted in the thread.

If you are into emulators or want to use your Galaxy S3 in place of any video player or internet TV box, this is a must watch video. If you want the little cable he used in the video, do a Google search for "USB OTG cable" and you'll find a vendor that services your country with a number of links.

2) NFC Tags

1)Samsung's official NFC tags are called TecTiles. TecTiles are, as AndroidForums member XplosiV described it, like QR codes for NFC. You can put these stickers in areas of your place of residence, car, etc. Then you can program your phone to do certain things when it detects the TecTile through NFC. Like put one on your nightstand and program your phone to set the alarm clock when the phone is in range of your night stand. Thanks to AF member Lorak for the examples

Here is a video that goes over various gestures and helpful little bits of the Galaxy S3. I do not, however, endorse the same apps he endorses in the video. I've never tried them and it shoudl be up to the individual user if they find these helpful or not.

To get information on rooting, please visit the All Things Root Guide thread for your specific carrier for information on rooting. It contains information on what root is, guides to show you how to root, and some of the more common ROMs. Here are the listing of the All Things Root guide threads:

when I choose a gallery item for a wallpaper, I always get to the vertical cropping screen. This should be the case for lockscreens, but NOT for desktop wallpapers!
It seems impossible to use a full image as a scrolling- rolling horizontal wallpaper.
This happens only when I use the gallery option. A perfect horizontal rolling screen can be generated using the stock galaxy wallpapers.
Using an App like Zedge also inserts wallpapers the correct way.
So it seems that the only problem is with gallery pictures. They insist on being cropped.

when I choose a gallery item for a wallpaper, I always get to the vertical cropping screen. This should be the case for lockscreens, but NOT for desktop wallpapers!
It seems impossible to use a full image as a scrolling- rolling horizontal wallpaper.
This happens only when I use the gallery option. A perfect horizontal rolling screen can be generated using the stock galaxy wallpapers.
Using an App like Zedge also inserts wallpapers the correct way.
So it seems that the only problem is with gallery pictures. They insist on being cropped.

Click to expand...

Have you tried ES File Explorer to use your gallery photos as wallpaper?

hi everyone
i have a question and i wait an answer.i have a little problem with weather widget.for example everytime after 10 pm when do the update weather for my city,when must indicate the real weather, for example:clean, in my language is written"stergere" its means in english "erase" and not written corecttly "senin", its about wrong typing translate? i dont know.plese help.its about a soft problem? thanks

hi everyone
i have a question and i wait an answer.i have a little problem with weather widget.for example everytime after 10 pm when do the update weather for my city,when must indicate the real weather, for example:clean, in my language is written"stergere" its means in english "erase" and not written corecttly "senin", its about wrong typing translate? i dont know.plese help.its about a soft problem? thanks

Click to expand...

Contact Samsung customer support about that to report the bug. It probably is a bad translation and can only be fixed if reported to Samsung directly.

All my Android phone have always had that feature of browsing the web and talking on the phone at the same time. I've tried doing that with the galaxy s3 and it won't let me. As soon as I make a call it will disconnect me from my 4g. Does anyone know if there a setting we can change to have both features run at the same time?

Open your email app, then choose your email account. Once you have your inbox open, use the menu button to open settings. When you scroll down you'll find sync options at the bottom. Uncheck the sms option

All my Android phone have always had that feature of browsing the web and talking on the phone at the same time. I've tried doing that with the galaxy s3 and it won't let me. As soon as I make a call it will disconnect me from my 4g. Does anyone know if there a setting we can change to have both features run at the same time?

This is a fantastic phone but I have one problem with mine and my daughters, whenever we go on the net from Google the screen goes very dim and cant be read. If I go on facebook or ebay via an app it is fine but if we go on anything via Google search it always goes very dim, if I press the back button, for a second it goes bright and normal an then goes off. I have tried everything in the settings but nothing seems to change it.
Also when I play a video it starts off very dark and dim for about 5 seconds and then it brightens up. This is really spoiling a really brilliant phone for me, please help. Thanks.

This is a fantastic phone but I have one problem with mine and my daughters, whenever we go on the net from Google the screen goes very dim and cant be read. If I go on facebook or ebay via an app it is fine but if we go on anything via Google search it always goes very dim, if I press the back button, for a second it goes bright and normal an then goes off. I have tried everything in the settings but nothing seems to change it.
Also when I play a video it starts off very dark and dim for about 5 seconds and then it brightens up. This is really spoiling a really brilliant phone for me, please help. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Go into settings and then to Power saving. Uncheck Background Color, that's what dims your screen on the net.

The other thing with the slight dimming when starting the video is the Auto adjust screen tone feature. You can disable that in Display, it's towards the bottom.

Like I said I think I tried everything now lol think I will leave it till The weekend and go back to the o2 shop and tell him to sort it, thanks for all your help tho, will check back later in case you think of anything else.

The only other thing I can think of is a factory reset. I don't have the video dimming, regardless of auto tone. Disabling power saving also prevents the screen from dimming on the internet, on my unit. So something is screwed up with your S3, unfortunately